Over the weekend while Harold Camping was hiding out after his failed prediction that the Rapture would occur on Saturday, May 21st, I was talking to a friend about what Camping was likely to do next.
I expressed the hope that Camping would make a public statement acknowledging his error and cease making end time predictions. I also expressed the fervent hope that Camping and his followers would not bring on their own personal end of the world through a suicide pact (a la Heaven’s Gate, the Order of the Solar Temple, and Jim Jones’ People’s Temple). I didn’t think that the probable outcome in this situation, though. Instead, I said that the most likely thing would be a modification of previous predictions.
My prediction was right!
On Monday Camping gave a press conference in which he said that he had been right about a major supernatural event occurring on Saturday, only it was of a different nature. Instead of a supernatural set of earthquakes and a rapture, it was an invisible, “spiritual” visitation of divine judgment on the earth—something undetectable by the senses and thus unfalsifiable. His remaining prediction—that the world itself would end on October 21st, he reaffirmed.
See for yourself!
Steven Greydanus—the friend to whom I was talking—has an excellent treatment of Camping’s new position and its problems, so be sure to check it out.
I must note that the prediction I made about what Camping was likely to do wasn’t due to any supernatural information. In fact, it was a safe prediction based on lots of prior experience.
Groups that have made false apocalyptic predictions have a long history of maintaining-with-variation when their predictions fail.
A famous example was the William Miller, who predicted the end of the world between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. When the latter date passed, an adjustment was made based on the use of a different Jewish calendar (that of the Karaite Jews), suggesting April 18, 1844. That, too, passed, and Miller wrote a letter in which he told his followers (now known as Millerites) in words eerily parallel to Harold Camping’s:
“I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment; yet I still believe that the day of the Lord is near, even at the door.”
Later that year, one Millerite preacher—Samuel Snow—predicted another specific date for Christ’s return: October 22nd.
The Millerite sect was a notable one in 19th Century America, and thousands of people made preparations, including giving up their possessions.
When October 23rd came with no return of Christ, the event became labelled “the Great Disappointment.”
In the wake the the Great Disappointment, many continued to maintain some form of faith in the Millerite system, but with modifications.
Nineteenth-century America was a more rambunctious place, and the reaction to the Great Disappointment was startling by modern standards. Wikipedia notes:
There were also the instances of violence — a Millerite church burned in Ithaca and two vandalized in Dansville and Scottsville. In Loraine, a mob attacked the Millerite congregation with clubs and knives, while a group in Toronto was tarred and feathered. Shots were fired at another Canadian group meeting in a private house.
Many Millerites maintained their faith, however:
Both Millerite leaders and followers were left generally bewildered and disillusioned. Responses varied: some continued to look daily for Christ’s return, others predicted different dates—among them April, July, and October 1845. Some theorized that the world had entered the seventh millennium — the “Great Sabbath,” and that therefore, the saved should not work. Others acted as children, basing their belief on Jesus’ words in Mark 10:15 “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Millerite O. J. D. Pickands used Revelation to teach that Christ was now sitting on a white cloud, and must be prayed down.
Others offered other interpretations, such as the idea that the offer of salvation to mankind had ended (a view already reported among Campingites), that Jesus had returned invisibly, and that Jesus had begun the judgment by cleansing the heavenly sanctuary.
The latter view led, in particular, to the formation of the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination.
Miller’s teachings also had an influence on the formation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who famously predicted (among other things) the return of Christ in 1914 and then, when this didn’t happen, reinterpreted it as a spiritual enthronement of Christ.
And there is a lamentable history of such prophecies and reinterpretations among them since.
This phenomenon isn’t unique to the Millerites, the Adventists, the JWs, and the Campingites, though. It’s broader than that. Non-Christians are subject to it, as well.
A famous case is recorded in the book When Prophecy Fails
(Incidentally, Festinger termed the clash of existing beliefs with new evidence against them “cognitive dissonance”—a now-popular term.)
The phenomenon appears concerning non-doomsdays, too. In his famous book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
So strong is the tendency to cling to old theories that it often requires one generation of scientists to die off to allow a new theory to take its place.
(Incidentally, Kuhn referred to this shift of beliefs as moving from one “paradigm” to another or as a “paradigm shift”—another now-popular term.)
But the phenomenon is even broader than science and religion. It’s part of basic human nature, and it applies everywhere, to every form of belief, opinion, or theory.
C. S. Lewis wrote an essay entitled On Obstinacy in Belief
He also points out that this is entirely natural and that we would be ill served if we were configured so that each new bit of data required us to call into question the entirety of our beliefs. It’s on-balance good that we’re obstinate in our beliefs, because the majority of them are correct and suspending our beliefs at the slightest provocation would cause us not only to squander an enormous amount of time and cognitive resources but would result in a literally fatal form of paralysis.
The trick is to make sure that we’re forming our beliefs in a reliable way, which Harold Camping definitely was not. Not only was he disconnected from the magisterium Christ established and operating all by his lonesome, he also was using demonstrably crazy methodology that was anything but sure to lead to a reliable conclusion.
But let’s not be too hard on Harold Camping.
Yes, he’s beclowned himself. In public. All over again. By predicting the end of the world on October 21st of this year. That has almost no chance of happening. But given the cognitive dissonance he’s been presented with, and the alternative interpretations available to him, it’s not surprising that he displayed obstinacy in belief and avoided a major paradigm shift.
And so my prediction came true.
It’ll be interesting to see what he does come October 22nd.
Anyone care to wager with me?
What do you think?
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Harold Camping sounds like he plagiarized Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jehovah Witnesses are a spin-off of the second Adventist which all came from the Millerite movement.American war of 1812 army captain William Miller is ground zero for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Yes,the “great disappointment” of Oct 22 1844 has never died out… it lives on in the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The central CORE doctrine of the Watchtower,yes the reason the Watchtower came into existence was to declare Jesus second coming in 1914.When the prophecy (derived from William Miller of 1842) failed they said that he came “invisibly”.
—-
Danny Haszard been there
What do you mean by “almost” no chance of the end of the world happening on 10/21/11? The mere fact that it was dated leads me to conclude that it is wrong, for the Word of God said that NO one knows the day or the hour. Period.
Augustine,
I’m pretty sure Jimmy was merely accepting exactly what you’ve said but from the opposite side of the coin. It very well could happen that day, we simply don’t know. We should always be waiting “with joyful hope for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”
What a crazy guy! Did anyone see the article about Jesus and Camping?
http://milkthebull.com/2011/05/25/jesus-apologizes-to-doomsday-preacher/
@Augustine,
By “almost no chance” I presume he means that given 2000 years where the end of the world hasn’t happened, and (as you point out) absolutely no idea of how many many years may be remaining, the probability of the end of the world occurring on any given day is likely very low.
That being said, the best summary I’ve heard of the Catholic position of the end of the world is that “We’re closer now than ever before.”
:o)
I have a small issue with the idea:
“The mere fact that it was dated leads me to conclude that it is wrong, for the Word of God said that NO one knows the day or the hour. Period.”
If this is really, literally true, I could post on a blog (each and every day) that “the Lord will return tomorrow - absolutely, for sure, no doubt about it” - thus making it impossible for it to happen. Somehow, that doesn’t make any sense to me.
The world has been here for about 6000 or so years and it will be here until the end of time and so I don’t worry too much about end-of-the-world profits because a fool and his money are soon parted.
But, of course, Jesus did know the day the world would end but trying to explain to a protestant that Jesus was not ignorant would take us right up to the day the world ends.
If protestants want to think He was ignorant, they have free will to do so; even though their progenitors denied Free Will.
I grew up a Seventh-day Adventist and wrote a book that included the horror story of the 1844 Great Disappointment. (My website has scans of original newspaper clippings that chronicle the murders, suicides and mayhem that followed. www.arthurandteresabeem@blogspot.com.) The denomination I grew up in was a direct descendant of the Millerite Movement and I have watched the Camping debacle with enormous pity and worry. I am so glad that there was no tragic fallout. Thank God even though in many ways this has turned out to be history repeating itself, that we are not seeing famine and frozen children who were abandon when Christ did not come.
What’s with the clown from Stephen King’s “IT”? That’s a bit much, don’t you think?
@Fred,
I thought of this one, and I like it, but there is a language issue. It says “no one knows…” It doesn’t say “no one can possibly randomly guess correctly.”
So you can not twist God’s arm into delaying His coming by predicting it daily.
@Augustine
Surely that logic would allow for narrowing the day down? You’ve just posited that He will return on a day in the set of “Days No One Has Guessed”.
Yup, a spiritual judgement. Just like communion, baptism, the church, and everything else in modern day protestantism. Sad really.
It amazes me that people get so caught up in end-of-the-world predictions. First of all, we have Jesus saying no one knows but the Father - or isn’t Jesus a credible witness? There’s an old hymn - “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand.” We are all in the hand of God and if we are believers we know He’ll take care of us. As for unbelievers’ that’s up to God. We should take care of the business we’re assigned today (Matthew 25:34-40).
By the way, using the clown from “It” is mean.
Oct 21st will come with less fanfare since the signs that say “the bible guarantees it” can’t be used anymore. So the press and pop culture icons will mostly ignore it.
Camping will make his forth prediction when october 21st comes/goes most likely, and no one will really care. Probably a fifth if he’s still alive
+J.M.J+
If Camping is plagiarizing the Jehovah’s Witnesses, it’s not the first time he’s done it. For a while now he’s denied the existence of hell and eternal punishment, teaching annihilationism instead.
Camping continues to make errors that cost people their lives. I point to a 14 year old girl in Russia who killed herself before the “rapture” was supposed to happen.
NYPD took a man off a bridge in time before he jumped to his death. Thank God they acted quickly to save him…
In short, false prophets in the old days were stoned to death. That’s not going to happen now obviously but Camping needs to retire and leave the business of management to God himself.
On Mr. Campings Family radio today the host introduced a program
“Ima glad to see so many Family Radio listners here.”
http://eclecticmeanderings.blogspot.com/
Are you aware of this audio message directed towards Pope Benedict that’s come onine recently?
I thought this part was particularly umm.. shall we say “intriguing”, where the person says:
In closing, Pope Benedict, you have a choice. You can release the secret archives and documents hidden in the subterranean vaults to the people and listen to their anger, or you can ignore my prophecy and die exactly as prophesized in the real 3rd Secret of Fatima. The choice is now yours.
You can listen to the full audio here:
http://www.merkaba.org/audio/benedict.html
Why all the animosity on this site towards non-Catholic Christians? Or as many people still like to say, “protestants” (a term usually only heard in Catholic circles). Most “Protestants” call themselves Christians, and MOST acknowledge Catholics as Christians as well. Believers in Christ. Why can’t people acknowledge the similarities in our faith, as opposed to nit-picking the differences?
Almost all Christian sects claim to have the true understanding of Scripture, but obviously all of them can’t be entirely correct.
I was raised a Catholic, but left the church in my teens MAINLY because of the hypocrisy I saw from the leaders in my parish, and their relentless mistreatment of me as a student in their school (from the nuns to the principals). No, I wasn’t molested, but i was mistreated and mis-judged from nearly day one at that school, by the faculty.
In addition, they said “make no graven images”, but there they were, graven images everywhere. I believed (and still do) salvation is a choice of the person, no the parent. They were also heavy on the presumption that being “the true church” that Catholics are the only ones going to heaven. Vain repetition of prayer, calling leaders “Father”, and the fact that I just couldn’t bear what I believed to be an overwhelming air of arrogance, from the pomp of Sunday service, to the attitudes of the members Monday through Saturday.
But we’re all human here, people are imperfect, and despite my bad experience with the Catholic church, I eventually forgave all those people for the way I was treated. And I know that not everyone has the same experience I did. But it had an impact on me, obviously. But I wasn’t gong back for more.
But as an adult I came to Christ not in a church, but alone in an alcoholism treatment center bed, several weeks off the bottle, where I experienced the undeniable presence of the Holy Spirit, and my life was transformed instantly, my craving for alcohol lifted, and my walk with Christ began. I love the church I am a member of, where the Gospel is taught in every-day layman’s terms, we are accepted for who we are, as we come, and are challenged to get our hands dirty with whatever ministry God calls us to do, and to ask people in distress “Can I pray for you right now?”, which, admittedly, I fall short of badly. And a large portion of the tithe goes directly to helping the homeless and hungry people in our own backyard, of which there are many.
But my point here is that WE ARE ON THE SAME TEAM, are we not? What’s the point in bashing protestants? I can assure you that there’s not a lot of smack-talking going on about Catholics in the daily activities of most Christians. You believe the way you do, and everyone else believes the way they do. NO CHURCH is 100% right about anything. And likewise, no particular church has exclusive insight into the correct interpretation of the bible. If it was that easy, everyone would agree.
We are all sincere in our faith and our individual beliefs. At least I believe MOST of us are. And I believe God will judge us with that in mind. I’m guessing here, but I’d venture to say that even Camping was sincere in his predictions, and that he was not intentionally misleading people down that path for financial gain. And unless he is truly evil, he is also a Christian, albeit a misguided one. (For his own sake, I sure hope that’s his problem.)Which of us has not been misguided at one point or another? I don’t know the man’s heart. I never heard of him until last week. But I do know that his predictions did get some people to start thinking about their relationship with God again, AND THAT’S A GOOD THING. I’m sure there were a lot of bibles that got dusted off this week and suddenly Daniel and Revelation and Matthew saw the light of day for the first time in a long time. Right? I think it’s a net gain, although my heart goes out to the poor people who sold their homes and gave away their savings, not to mention that poor Russian girl. But God knows here heart too.
Woops, just noticed the “one paragraph” clause. Sorry ‘bout that.
@BPL, I’m a Lutheran and what you describe makes me sad too. I read this site daily because I admire and respect many things about the Catholic church and I feel I have a lot to learn from ALL my brothers and sisters in Christ…I just wish the respect could be mutual; that Catholics would look at us and see fellow Christians, not the dreaded P-word. I’m afraid, however, that they just sincerely see us as being gravely in error for being outside the Catholic church; as by visiting this site we’re in essence guests in their house, we have to respect their beliefs on the subject.
No doubt Camping is a fraud and a heretic. However, keep in mind that others have predicted the end of the world also such as a pope. “1284 Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III predicted that the world would end 666 years after the rise of Islam.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_predicted_dates_of_the_end_of_the_world_or_similar_events
Well since it was a spiritual rapture then it will be a spiritual end of the world and the spiritual judgement will be another 5-6 months after Oct 21. Only the spiritual followers of Harold Camping will notice any of it.
It’s easy to debunk him; if he were a prophet he would know the Catholic church is the One Christ founded on Peter and he would be Catholic.
@BPL/Erika - God bless you for joining in the discussion. However, as a Catholic, I do perceive a lot of anti-Catholic sentiment among “protestants,” many of whom don’t consider Catholics to be Christians at all, but rather “a Babylonian mystery cult,” “the !@#$% of Babylon,” “priest-ridden,” “pope-driven” etc. I’ve listened to Harold Camping, and he was very selective about who he considered “in the club.” I also had the opportunity to visit an AG reading room where a good swath of the materials were absolute slander against Catholicism. They use such distortions to steal away disaffected Catholics, and to reinforce members about their supposed spiritual superiority. You can’t be unaware of the history of anti-Catholic bigotry in our good ol’ USA. The Church has been persecuted here, and continues to face persecution. Finally, @BPL, it’s great that you believe, and really feel good about it, but wouldn’t it be nice to have “fullness of the faith” as Christ himself handed it down? It’s not all about “feeling good.” If it were, everybody would be Christians, not just the elect of God. God bless you!
+J.M.J+
@Proto 1 - Actually, Pope Innocent III never said that the world would end 666 years after the rise of Islam. That is a misunderstanding of his worlds He believed that *Islam* itself would only exist for 666 years, since he saw Muhammad as the antichrist and thought that the Book of Revelation’s statement about the “mark of the beast” applied to him. In his bull, “De negotio Terrae Sanctae,” the pope said: “Nevertheless, we trust God, who has already given us some good sign that the end of this beast (Islam) is approaching, and its number, according to the Apocalypse of John is limited to six hundred and sixty-six, of which almost six hundred years have been completed.” There’s nothing said about the end of the world, just the (supposed) end of Islam.
...minsunderstanding of his *words*.
My prediction agrees with yours, Jimmy. Come October 21, he will once again re-interpret reality ala 1984 (the book). But I predict, also, that it will not be nearly the media event, because Family Radio appears to be distancing itself from him by removing all apocalyptic material from their Website and from their radio broadcasts, as well as playing classic Camping sermons from before he lost it in the late 80s (incidentally, the man used to have a much higher-pitched voice, and he spoke more quickly and vibrantly—that’s old age for you—see my post: http://chrysologus.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-predictions-for-family-radio.html). Without support from Family Radio and people dropping down big money for advertising, I wouldn’t be surprised if only a few people on Oct. 21 even remember Camping.
Why all the animosity on this site towards non-Catholic Christians?
Please be more specific. Is it that false prophets are described accurately as such? Or what?
Most “Protestants” call themselves Christians, and MOST acknowledge Catholics as Christians as well. Believers in Christ. Why can’t people acknowledge the similarities in our faith, as opposed to nit-picking the differences?
If the differences are so trivial, then you should be doing what Paul recommended for meat sacrificed to idols, namely yielding to the scruples of those do not find them trivial. We think they are important. We also think your state of schism is important. Therefore you should accomodate our wishes.
But I do know that his predictions did get some people to start thinking about their relationship with God again, AND THAT’S A GOOD THING.
Not at the price of God’s name being blasphemied among the nations because of him. Especially since the thoughts of some were clearly I have to stay away from this religion business, it will drive me as crazy as Camping.
Haroldtards:
Followers and believers in Harold Camping’s prophecy’s.
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